Birthday Gift From An Admirer
by Rosie B. Londe
Summary: It's Joey's 21st birthday and he's out celebrating with the crew when something unexpected happens! Puppyshipping, One-shot, R&R.


Joey was celebrating his twenty first birthday with his best friends. Twenty one years old! Ah, it felt good to be old enough to drink, even though he had sworn never to go down that path after experiencing how it had effected his father. No, he definitely didn't want anything to do with alcohol. So why was he sitting at a bar at a well known dance club while Tristan and Tea danced, Malik flirted away, and Ryou and Yugi quietly talked next to him?

Celebrating! Malik swore that he would get Joey shitfaced if it was the end of him, but so far he had been preoccupied with the cute girls swaying away on the dance floor.

Joey stared his drink down, a full glass of whiskey ordered for him by Malik of course. He didn't understand what was with the sandy blonde, always trying to get Joey to do things he didn't want to do!

He jumped in surprise when a hand clapped down on his shoulder and he turned to see Tristan grinning at him, a mischievous looking Tea hanging over his shoulder. "Hey Joey, look who just walked in." Tristan said, looking towards the entrance of the club where a boy with extremely messy long black hair was standing, looking very much lost.

Joey's face lit up with a grin and he stood from his seat. "Mokuba! Dat you?" he shouted, walking around the flashing tiles on the floor to stand in front of the boy. "You're a little young t'be wanderin' round this sorta place aren't ya?" he asked, jokingly.

Mokuba looked up as his name was shouted, smiling when he recognized Joey. "Hey! I'm here on orders in case you didn't know! And besides, I'm eighteen now, so I'm fine being here." he said, pushing a hand into one of his pockets. "Anyways, S- um, someone we both know heard it was your birthday but... couldn't be here to wish you a happy birthday and give you this, so they sent me instead. Happy birthday Joey! From them and me!" he said brightly, holding out a small wrapped up box and a letter.

Tristan walked up behind Joey and snatched the gifts away from Mokuba before Joey could take them. "Ohh! What's this! Gifts, eh? We're not opening gifts till we get back home, Joey! Letters too!" he said, holding the items up high as Joey jumped for them, cursing the monstrous growth spurts his friend had gone through.

Joey glared at Tristan and crossed his arms. "What'm I, 15? I oughta be able ta decide fer myself when I open my presents..." he grumbled, not wanting to get into a fight over it.

Tea poked around from behind Tristan and giggled. "Don't worry Joey, we just wanna make sure we all get to see your face when you open your gifts. I can't wait until you open mine! I can just see it now! Ohh!" she went on, dreamily. Of course, all of the gifts from everyone but Mokuba and whoever this other person was were back at his apartment.

Joey frowned and looked away from Tea. "Yeah yeah. I get it, Tea, so quit yer yakkin'. I'm sure ya got me a wonderful gift. I still say you guys shouldn't have gotten me anything. I mean, I'm too old fer this nonsense now!" he said with a sigh and a shrug.

Mokuba smiled at the three of them and chuckled, reminding them all that he was there too. "Anyways, happy birthday Joey. Me and Seto are still living at the mansion if you wanna drop by or something. You'll be my guest, so it's fine!" he said cheerfully before spinning around and waving goodbye.

Joey, Tea, and Tristan waved goodbye as Mokuba hurried out of the club, leaving Joey to wonder how he knew Joey and his friends would be there anyways. He asked as much from Tea.

"Oh, we invited Kaiba to come too but he refused. He must have told Mokuba." she answered before pulling Tristan back out onto the dance floor with her, giggling as he groaned. "We invited Mokuba too, but he said he'd let us adults have our own fun. He said he might be over at your place later on though." she said brightly, obviously excited for Joey to see what she had gotten him.

Joey nodded to show that he'd been listening, glad that he'd be seeing Mokuba later. After all, he was pretty sure the younger boy would show up. He wondered who would have sent him a gift with Mokuba that hadn't been invited. "Hey, Tea?" he asked before she could drag Tristan away for more torture. "Did anyone else say they couldn't show up?"

Tea smiled. "Well, Duke said he was going to be out of town and I don't think Mai ever got my e-mail. That's it I think. I didn't invite too many people" she said, pulling Tristan into the crowd with her, quickly becoming engulfed in dancing forms.

Poor guy. Joey would have felt sorry for him if he didn't know his friend better than that. As it was he just smiled, amused and went back to sit at the bar to wait until his friends were done celebrating. He was tired and ready for cake!

* * *

When everyone finally managed to congeal into a half drunk pile, Joey was designated the most fit for driving as he'd been the only one besides Yugi who hadn't had anything to drink. Even little Ryou was hiccuping in the back seat. Yugi had been charged with the job of making sure Malik's head stayed aimed at the window as he murmured soothing words to the tanned boy. Joey probably would have just held his head outside the window, making Yugi the best choice.

Joey drove them all down to his apartment, a vast improvement from his old one that he shared with his father. He led them inside, apologizing to some of the other residents on their behalf for bumping into them, reeking of alcohol, or trying to talk to them. Once he and Yugi had herded them into his apartment, they all migrated to the living room where Tristan almost immediately passed out on the couch and Tea began yelling at him to wake up, sitting on him with tears in her eyes when that didn't work.

Malik began to harass Ryou as they made their way to the kitchen, Yugi heading after them to make sure they didn't get into trouble and to lead them to the bathroom should they need it. Well. Lead Malik should he need it really. Surprisingly Ryou seemed to be good at holding his liqueur.

Joey sighed at his friends' behavior and decided that going to any place that served alcohol with them was a mistake that shouldn't be repeated. He looked at the coffee table where a small pile of gifts lay then glanced over to Tristan with a now sleeping Tea slumped on top of him. Boy. that was going to be fun to lie about in the morning. He'd have to plan a script about it with Yugi and maybe Ryou if he was sober enough.

He smirked and then noticed the little gift box and letter in Tristan's pocket. Looking around he was the only one awake in the room... He leaned over and pulled the items out of Tristan's jacket pocket. He opened the letter first.

_Dear. Joey _

_I hope you've had a good birthday, and I'm glad you've been around for as long as you have. I won't_

_be telling you who this is from. Someone like you deserves a secret admirer, i think, and I would be _

_delighted to fill the spot if it's free, which I think it is. Knowing you, we'd all know if it wasn't. _

_ Sincerely- S.A._

_ P.s. I hope you like the gift._

Joey smiled at the letter and scratched his head. Shucks! A secret admirer? He wondered who it was... Well, to be honest there were only three real option. He cringed at the thought of Duke sending him this kind of thing, and he doubted Kaiba would even still remember t was his birthday right now. That left Mai. This didn't really sound like her though... Could there be someone else? Maybe an old friend from school...? He frowned as he thought it over.

"Well... Maybe the gift'll give me some sorta clue." he muttered picking up the small box and tearing the red wrapping off. Inside was a red velvet box about the size of his hand. He pulled the lid up to reveal an amulet in the shape of his Red Eyes with two small red ruby studs for eyes, curled up around a larger egg shaped ruby. It was beautiful work... So whoever sent this knew his deck, and his favorite card. How odd. Maybe it was someone here after all? He couldn't imagine any of his friends having a secret crush on him though, and he definitely couldn't imagine any of them having the money to afford this king of thing. Yugi was rich from his dueling, but he wouldn't use his money on something extravagant like this, especially not for something so common as a...

Joey halted his thinking as his thumb brushed over a strange oddity on one of the dragon's wings. He turned it over in his palm and squinted at the shiny black metal, trying to make out the engraving to no avail. He looked around for a piece of paper, grabbing the letter that had come with the amulet and pulled a pencil out of his pocket to lightly brush it over the paper set on the engraving, smiling as the words, or letters, rather, began to become clear.

_S•J_

Joey frowned. S.J.? Did he know anyone by the initials of S.J.? He groaned. He'd met so many people during his ventures as a pro... They all knew his deck! Most of them were rich too! Wonderful...

Seto sat back in his office at his mansion, a smug smile on his face as he tried to imagine Joey, scrambling to figure out who he was. It was going to be fun sending him gifts until he finally figured it out. Knowing that doofus, that would probably take a while, as long as he could convince his friends to stay out of it as they figured it out as they surely would.


End file.
